The War of Wrath
The War of Wrath Overview The War of Wrath was the war that defined most of the sixth map of Titan. At several points in the War every faction on the server was involved. The factions Holdrad, Sentinels, New Holdrad, Arrow, Iceni, and Angmar fought for survival against the reigning power of Gondolin. The war saw the most widespread use of TNT since the ancient days of the first and second eras, and the destruction of more factions than any other war before or since. Pre-War After the destruction of the Northern Alliance, Gondolin enjoyed a short period of peace. In an effort to demilitarize the army, the High King sent Lords Silianat and Pineapple to the remaining faction of Iceni to enforce the peace and to spread Gondolin’s influence. This move left Gondolin with Lords Varkanos, Koorban, and Herbie. The great outer wall around Gondolin’s territory was abandoned and its military preparations were halted. For his service in the War against the Northern Alliance, MonsterCrafter was promoted to Captain of the Knights of Gondolin, the highest position for a non-Noble to hold. While Gondolin consolidated power, the survivors of the Northern Alliance consolidated their forces into the three remaining Kingdoms of Holdrad, Arrow, and Iceni. As time progressed, for reasons unclear, Pineapple and Silianat both grew weary of the rule of the High King. The peace grew fragile and all that was needed to ignite another war was a spark. The Battles of the Wheat MonsterCrafter continued to press Gondolin’s military supremacy during the peace as the Captain of the Knights. He maintained aggressive watches on the other nations in service to Gondolin, even committing acts against the peace in order to sow discord among the other nations against each other and to limit their military growth. On one such unsanctioned raid against Iceni, Lord Silianat caught MonsterCrafter in the faction’s wheat stash and immediately called for the return of the stolen goods. MonsterCrafter returned some bread in exchange, but the damage was done the war was on. In immediate retaliation, Silianat and Pineapple prepared for war and moved quickly on the city of Gondolin. The Iceni forces took the city by complete surprise killing some builders and a few unsuspecting Knights before the alarm was sound and the city prepared for battle. What followed was street to street fighting throughout the city. Silianat and Pineapple continued to assault the city which struggled initially to drive the invaders out of the city. Eventually most of the Gondolin army was assembled and the forces of Iceni were thrown out of the city. The High King then assembled his forces to counter attack the relatively undefended Iceni base. The remaining Gondolin Lords were assembled along with most of the Knights and a siege was began on the southern wall of Iceni. Lord Silianat, outnumbered seven to one, put up a valiant defense against the invaders and for a time kept them off of the wall, but once Gondolin breached the main gate there was little hope and the Iceni forces fell back into their protective shelters. The Gondolin forces sacked what loot they could from the surface of the Iceni fortress and left. On their way back to the city, the Gondolin forces stopped by the Holdrad walls and looted some of their building force in cold blood, against the wishes of their King and against the cause of peace they were set out to uphold. Holdrad, which had remained neutral up until now was now firmly against Gondolin. A truce was called to halt the fighting. Gondolin apologized for MosnterCrafter’s looting of Iceni and promised to pull back its watches from the Northern factions. The truce was uneasy and wouldn’t last long. The Raids of Silianat Shortly after the truce was established, MonsterCrafter began his aggressive policies of watching and secretly raiding Holdrad and Iceni again. In retaliation, Silianat forged a set of protection armor and a blade that was among the finest in the land. Without any offensive support, Lord Silianat began a series of guerilla style raids on Gondolin in an effort to bring down the Gondolin war machine, lower the morale of its warriors, and enforce a more just peace. Silianat launched a series of devastating raids against the city of Gondolin itself, attacking when most of the military was unassembled and when odds were favorable. By the time a defense could be assembled, the raid was over and the damage was done. After several raids against Gondolin, the High King assembled the Gondolin army and marched north to Iceni and to war. The Iceni had not yet fully recovered from the first round of battles with Gondolin, and the brief attack on Iceni was a foregone conclusion. Lord Pineapple and the troller, JMS, put up token defense against Gondolin’s army, but was no match for their numbers and strength. Lord Varkanos slew JMS himself with the help of ITI and then lead the charge into the city. The Gondolin forces sacked Iceni, including the house of Lord Pineapple, for a second time and then returned back to their city. Lord Pineapple was effectively knocked out of military standings from among the wealthiest Lords, and Silianat swore revenge for the sacking of Iceni. Silianat’s further raids and the establishment of New Holdrad After Gondolin sacked Iceni for the second time, Silianat began a series of more aggressive raids against Gondolin with the same success he always enjoyed. When most of the Lords were absent, Silianat would strike killing the orderless defenders. Captain MonsterCrafter was defenseless against the enraged Silianat. Even now, the once fierce enemy of Silianat, the betrayer Ace, begain his own series of raids against Gondolin. In one raid Silianat was able to sack MonsterCrafter’s House, through MosnterCrafter’s carelessness. This act brought about the banishment of MonsterCrafter from Gondolin and his replacement as Captain of the Knights by ITIDeathGod. After several raids, Silianat established a small army under the banner of New Holdrad and established himself as Khan. With Gondolin on the fense (or so it was seemed to many) Silianat was able to rally supporters from all corners of the land, soldiers rallied behind him in a multi faction coalition bent avenging Gondolin’s past exploits. Silianat was able to sack the Gondolin armory and storehouse, and even gained a foothold inside of the outer Gondolin walls. For a time Silianat and his coalition experienced success, roaming the streets of Gondolin at will. Among Silianat’s supporters were members of Old Holdrad, Iceni, and even the exiled ex-Catpain, MosnterCrafter. Lords Koorban and Herbie put up a fight, but being outnumbered as high as 4 to 1, they called off the defense and let them have their way with the city. At the right time the Lords circled in on Silianat and captured him alive and imprisoned him in a tower. At this turn of events, the one day coalition of Silianat’s would be bannermen fled from the city, each to his own faction. The Lords retook the city and a guard was put up. Silianat’s foothold within the city was recaptured, and much of the loot taken off of Gondolin Soldiers was retrieved. Gondolin’s darkest hour was over. For their role in supporting Silianat’s raids, holding Gondolin loot in their vaults, and housing the great griefer, Ace, Gondolin agreed to offer Iceni an ultimatum, the return of all stolen goods taken by Silianat during his raids, or suffer war. The offer was left open for a week of relative peace. Silianat’s Release In an act of mercy, and in an effort to establish a true peace, the leaders of Gondolin agreed to release Silianat on the condition that he never take up arms against Gondolin in aggression again. Silianat accepted and was released from his prison inside Gondolin. From there Silianat moved north and established an order of mercenaries in New Holdrad. The Destruction of Iceni After the release of Silianat, and at the refusal to accept the King’s terms. Gondolin moved in to lay siege to Iceni. Siege works were set up on the Northern, Western, and Southern faces of Iceni’s fortress and the Gondolin war machine continually raided the faction which remained underground for the most part. Fearing the advantage they had with their mob spawner, and knowing its flawed location (outside the walls of Iceni) High King Ganoe and his Captain, ITIDeathGod, began an underground assault to breach and cripple the mob spawner. Over the course of several days Gondolin forces shelled into the Iceni spawner from underground, effectively making them a way into the Iceni underground base, and unknowingly to the Iceni, limiting the power of their spawner. The siege continued. The leader of Iceni, Unknown, surfaced several times and personally killed several Gondolin Knights. During one of his raids, Unknown dueled Ganoe in single combat, but was forced to pull back to escape death, he then rejoined combat with Ganoe, but this time with the help of Lord Silianat who had sat on the sidelines long enough. The High King narrowly escaped with his life, only with the help of Lord Varkanos. Eventually Unknown, MonsterCrafter, and Ace surfaced and began to attempt to push back the Gondolin forces and lift the siege. Gondolin assembled its full military power and launched an assault on the southern face of Iceni’s fortress to meet Unknown in battle again. The defenders fought from their wall for a time, keeping the Gondolin force at a distance, but eventually, the cannon of Lord Herbie breached the gate. Ace and Monster fled, and Unknown ran out to defend the breach. Unknown was slaughtered after being encircled by the entire Gondolin force. Following the massacre at the gate, Iceni finally collaped to the siege. Gondolin forces were able to claim over the Iceni spawner, headquarters, many of the fortress’s houses, and some of its wall. Within hours the faction dissolved and what few survivors there were fled to Old Holdrad (now Sentinels), to remain neutral from the war, or to Arrow or Angmar. The Destruction of Angmar While the High King and the bulk of the Gondolin force was in the northeastern and eastern portions of the map fighting Silianat and his bannermen, Lord Herbie maintained his own series of raids on Angmar. The first raid on Angmar was commited by the then Captain of Gondolin MosnterCrafter, and Lord Varkanos, who completely destroyed the Nether fortress of Darksource, the new Dark Lord of Angmar. The attack was solely to establish Varkanos supremacy as Lord of the Nether. Following the destruction of this Nether fortress, Angmar suffered repeated raids of varying severity at the hand of Lord Herbie and MonsterCrafter. Eventually MonsterCrafter was exiled form Gondolin, but Herbie continued to raid Angmar until that faction disbanded. Its few survivors joined up with Sentinels and Arrow the last remaining nations. Arrow Commits to Silianat as Gondolin consolidates in the North Until this point in the war, Czahrien, the High Wizard and ruler of Arrow, had remained neutral to the war, but had leaned towards supporting Silianat’s cause. After the destruction of Iceni, Czahrien took in Silianat and his supporters and embraced their cause. A short time of peace followed after the destruction of Iceni. Gondolin Consolidated its’ power in the North and began a series of civil projects in the city with the plunders of war. Gondolin maintained a watch on Arrow in preparation for a fight that was inevitable. Siliant in the mean time recruited the Ancient Templar Andrus to help him equip and prepare the now able manpower in Arrow into a force to resist Gondolin’s army. Gondolin’s Final Push North Realizing that time only aided their rivals and also now facing rival factions in the far north and south, Gondolin declared war on both Arrow and Sentinels, Arrow for taking in Silianat and aiding his cause, and Sentinels for aiding Silianat and for their leaders role in the partial sacking of Gondolin at the hands of Silianat. Gondolin’s forces began to move north and paid little attention to the threat of Sentinels in the south and moved their army north and began to skirmish with Arrow’s forces on and around their wall. Before any siege works could be established, Czahrien wisely built a series of defenses outside Arrow’s main walls, completely surrounding the city and preventing any easy way into or around the city. From this protected city, Silianat was able to easily repulse several Gondolin assaults with his new found army. On occasion Lord Silianat drove south to meet Gondolin’s forces in the great desert and easily dispatched Gondolin’s soldiers and knights. In an effort to assist their allies in the north, Sentinels began to send out raiding forces to intercept and hunt down Gondolin forces in route to Sentinels and skirmished there with them. Lord Varkanos defeats Sentinels’ army Following the aggressive actions of Sentinels in the north against Gondolin forces, Lord Varkanos traveled south by himself and attacked Sentinels on a solo mission. Varkanos was able to single handedly destroy almost the entire Sentinels army due to his superior gear and fighting skill. The following day, the Gondolin leadership met below Sentinels’ sky city and debated the feasibility of launching an all out assault on the platform. Some debated for an immediate use of the faction’s entire TNT supply to cause as much damage as possible, but the final decision was to spare Sentinels the attack, and save Gondolin the high cost of such an attack at what was a very well defended city. Being satisfied that Varkanos put his mark on Sentinels and that they would rarely move north again, the Gondolindrim moved north to enforce their siege on Arrow. Continued fighting at Arrow After effectively knocking Sentinels out of the North, the Gondolindrim began to more aggressively confront Arrow around their city. The Lords of Gondolin constantly attacked Arrow in an effort to pull down their superior numbers. Lord Silianat however continually put up resistance, fighting the Gondolin forces to a standstill, even against odds of three to one at times. Several large skirmishes took place in the shadow of the city walls, and at times Gondolin forces pushed onto the walls of Arrow itself before falling back. At one point King Gielnorian of the Sentinels came north with his army of Blazes and attacked the Gondolin army in the rear while they were skirmishing with Silianat’s defenders. The attack caught Gondolin’s forces off guard and cost their soldiers dearly. Only through the superior gear of the Lords was the siege maintained through the Blaze attacks. After King Gielnorian attempted to call upon Blazes to lift the siege of Arrow several times, Lord Varkanos called upon his allied Ghast to assist in the attacks on Arrow. On several occasions the Ghasts, lead by Emiku, King of the Ghasts, attacked and caused massive amounts of damage to Arrow. However through all of this Silianat was able to maintain a defense on the city and time after time was able to repulse sustained Gondolin attacks. It became clear that in order to more effectively attack the city siege works and the use of TNT would be needed. The Great Battle for the Southern Wall The High King ordered the construction of a siege tower to the south of Arrow and upon its completion its cannon was used to begin shelling Arrow’s walls and inner city. What ensued was the largest battle of the war to date. At the sight of a siege tower rising on a hill overlooking the city. Lord Silianat and Andrus rallied the Arrow army for war. Ganoe had already assembled Gondolin’s army around the siege tower and ordered the force to attack the city in order to buy time to complete the tower. Lord Varkanos and Captain ITIDeath lead the Knights of Gondolin into the city to hold off the forces of Arrow. Silianat in the meantime began to push out of Arrows eastern portion of the city to destroy the progress on the cannon which was protected by only a few Gondolin soldiers. Varkanos and the Knights of Gondolin were able to hold their own inside of the city and even began to push back Arrow’s stretched defenders while the remaining Gondolindrim soldiers outside to the walls were able to protect the siege tower from the attacking Arrow forces. After a short, but bloody battle, the cannon was completed and TNT began to fall on the walls and inner city. Gondolin’s remaining soldiers flooded into the city and the forces of Arrow fell back inside their underground bunkers. In an act of anger the Gods themselves intervened and smote Gondolin’s siege tower, killing its defenders. Gondolin’s forces inside the city withdrew back to their capitol to regroup. Gondolin’s Continued Siege of Arrow After the destruction of the southern siege tower, Gondolin forces began to construct a larger one to the west. In the several days that it took to complete the tower continued fighting took place on the southern walls of Arrow between the Knights of Gondolin and Arrows’ defenders. After the previous days’ battles, Arrow’s army was stretched thin and in the absence of their commanding generals was unable to put up resistance against Gondolin’s Knights. High King Ganoe sought to breach many of the factions store houses and the house of Silianat himself in order to crush resistance once and for all. Gondolin forces used their vast superiority in TNT supplied to them by their home spawner and destroyed vast portions of Arrow’s base including their headquarters and faction buildings, and Silianat’s house. Much was looted and carried back to Gondolin by the Knights present at the sacking and many of the remaining forces were destroyed effectively knocking Arrow out of the war. The Final Act in the South Without having yet received a formal surrender from Sentinels, or any sign of submission, High King Ganoe and Lord Varkanos went south after the fall of Arrow and walked into a defensless base and into the very vaults of Sentinels, they left a sign stating that they were here, and left. Implying what everyone knew from then on that Sentinels had been spared a devastating take down in one of the few acts of mercy during the war. Aftermath After the destruction of Silianat’s house and the faction’s headquarters in Arrow, the Gondolin Knights under the direction of Lord Varkanos and Captain ITIDeathGod, maintained an occupation of the city to ensure that its inhabitants were done resisting Gondolin. In this Gondolin’s Knights accidentally wandered too deep into the crypts of Arrows’ pyramid and awoken angry powers long at rest. These same powers would arise and destroy Gondolin itself. The War of Wrath ways began with the destruction of Angmar, which was disjoint by a period of peace. Even the omission of the siege of Angmar from the list of conflicts in the War of Wrath, the war was easily one of the longest, most widespread, and violent wars on Titan. It saw the complete destruction of three factions, and the decisive defeat of another two, and brought about the annihilation of the only surviving faction through events initiated in the final days of the war. The end of the War of Wrath marked the end of the sixth map and era of Titan. An era filled with large warring nations, large cities, epic battles, horrible defeats, and a lot of memories... Category:Historic Conflicts